So over on my social medias -- that would be Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram -- I started doing this thing called Trivia Tuesday. Every Tuesday, I post an info-graphic about a trivia bit I picked up over the years. Today, I posted this one.
I just wanted to ramble more about it, because it's just one of those things that I always found interesting.
When George Lucas was making The Empire Strikes Back, he noticed that two things would happen when word got out that the new Star Wars movie was filming in town.
1) Fans would start coming by, hoping to get a glimpse of the proceedings.
2) Local contractors would price gouge.
So, when it came time to start work on Return of the Jedi, he decided to give the production a code name. This way, word wouldn't get out, or at the very least, be slow to get out. The code name he came up with was Blue Harvest. But this was more than just a code name. A fake logo was made up that adorned all the crew jackets, and crew members were given a cover story to tell people about how it was just a slasher film. But, word still got out, and the name Blue Harvest became part of Star Wars mythology. It was eventually used as the title of an episode of the 1980s Ewoks cartoon, and of Family Guy's 2007 Star Wars spoof.
It has since become tradition for, not just Star Wars films, but all manner of event pictures to have a code name. I'm thinking about doing another one of these info-graphics for the Marvel movies, or just other blockbusters that had code names that interested me.
Anyway, since I found all the code names when I researched this, I figured I'd share the complete list.
The Phantom Menace - Both "The Beginning" and "The Doll House" were used at various points
Attack of the Clones - Jar Jar's Big Adventure
Revenge of the Sith - The Bridge
The Force Awakens - Both "Foodles" and "Avco" were used at various points
My social media feeds lit up this afternoon because Disney had their annual investors meeting. This is where Disney pretty much laid out their slate for the next five years, and because COVID cancelled all the cons, this is where all the big announcements they would have made throughout the year were made. There was a ton of stuff, especially in the realm of Star Wars and Marvel. Since I was rapidly texting it to all my friends, and there's far too much to tweet, I figured I'd fire up the ol' blog and share everything here.
Firstly, the Star Wars announcements. The TV shows. Let's start with the one that made me squeal:
Obi-Wan Kenobi - Hayden Christensen is back as Darth Vader! And the show is officially titled Obi-Wan Kenobi. Takes place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith
Ahsoka - Live action Ahsoka Tano show starring Rosario Dawson
Rangers of the New Republic - Soldiers of the New Republic, taking place during the time of the Mandalorian
Lando - Lando's getting a show! Justin Simien, creator of the Netflix show Dear White People, has been hired to develop it.
The Acolyte - This is the mystery project from Leslye Hedland, creator of the Netflix show Russian Doll. It's "a mystery thriller set in the time of the High Republic." The High Republic is 100 years before Phantom Menace
Star Wars Visions - An animated series. Japanese animators giving us some anime short films set in the Star Wars universe.
And here's our first trailer for the Cassian Andor series, titled Andor.
Films:
A Droid Story - An animated film about R2-D2 and C-3P0 mentoring a young droid. Going straight to Disney+.
The Taika Waititi Film - Still nothing is known, just that they confirmed it's still happening.
And the showstopper that ended the Lucasfilm presentation.
Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins is doing a Rogue Squadron film. The first Star Wars film to come to theatres, coming Christmas Day 2022.
And now on to the Marvel stuff. Let's get the trailers out of the way first.
New trailer for WandaVision. Hitting Disney+ on January 15.
First trailer for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Hitting Disney+ on March 19.
First trailer for Loki. Hitting Disney+ this May.
First trailer for What If...? Hitting Disney+ Summer 2021.
First look at Ms. Marvel. Hitting Disney+ late 2021
What else we got?
It's finally official! Sam Raimi, director of the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, is directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and it will directly tie-in to WandaVision and the next Spider-Man film. March 25, 2022.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has officially wrapped. Coming on July 9, 2021
Captain Marvel 2 is coming November 11, 2022. After being introduced in her own show on Disney+, Iman Villani will be reprising her role of Ms. Marvel in the film. And after being introduced in WandaVision, Teyonah Paris will be back as Monica Rambeau.
It's finally official: Hailee Steinfeld is Kate Bishop in Hawkeye.
It's finally official: Tatiana Maslany is She-Hulk in She-Hulk. Mark Ruffalo is back as Hulk and, the announcement we've been waiting for since 2008, Tim Roth is back as Abomination.
The title of the Nick Fury series is Secret Invasion. Samuel L. Jackson is back as Fury, Ben Mendehlson is back as the Skrull Talos.
Riri Williams/Ironheart is getting her own show on Disney+! Riri will be played by Dominique Thorne
War Machine is getting his own show on Disney+! The title? Armor Wars. Don Cheadle is back as Jim Rhodes/War Machine.
In addition to Guardians of the Galaxy 3, James Gunn will be giving us the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Dropping on Disney+ Christmas 2022.
Batman himself Christian Bale has joined the cast of Thor: Love and Thunder. He's playing the villain, Gorr the God Butcher.
The title of the third Ant-Man is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Jonathon Majors is Kang the Conqueror.
And the final announcement: once he's done the MCU Spider-Man trilogy, director Jon Watts will be giving us the MCU's Fantastic Four.
I love Pixar, so let's sum up the Pixar announcements, too. Firstly, they've got a bunch of new shows coming to Disney+:
Dug Days - Dug, everyone's favourite talking dog from Up get his own show as he explores suburbia. Coming fall 2021.
Untitled Cars Series - Mater and Lightening McQueen go on a road trip. Coming fall 2022
Win or Lose - Pixar's first original series (i.e. not based on one of their existing properties.) We follow a middle school baseball team as they work their way to the championship. Each episode will be told by a different player on the team. Coming fall 2023.
And the films:
Turning Red - From director Domee Shi, who picked up the Oscar for best short film for her Pixar short Bao. Following the adventures of Mei, a teen girl who turns into a giant red panda when she gets overexcited. Coming March 2022.
And the one that made the Internet sit up and take notice
Lightyear - The "true" story of the "real" astronaut who inspired the action figure. Starring Chris Evans as the "real" Buzz Lightyear. July 2022.
And the last one that caught my eye...in fact the one that opened their presentation. Disney is finally going to add a "mature audiences" section to Disney+. Called Star, this is where you'll find some of the more mature franchises Disney has thanks to the Fox buyout. You know, stuff like Deadpool, Die Hard, and Alien. That launches on February 23, and you won't have to pay extra for it.
Well, gang, it's time to continue on a tradition that I've been doing ever since I developed an online presence 20+ years ago to promote my college radio show. It's time to blog my Oscar picks!
Now, I've always done my Oscar picks a little differently. I only do the two categories that I have a good track record in picking: best visual effects and best original song. Best visual effects because, well, I gravitate towards those movies. And best original song because, well, back when I started doing this in the 1990s, it was the height of the Disney Renaissance, and for a good stretch in the 90s, the Oscar in this category would always go to the love ballad from the Disney animated film. When they started with best animated film, I started doing that one, because I love my cartoons. And I do best picture, because that's the big one.
My Thoughts: I liked Solo, but let's be honest, when it comes to visual effects it really offered up nothing new. Ready Player One is a visual treat, as about 80% of that film is performance capture was we explore our virtual world, but still, nothing really new. I really regret not catching First Man in the theatre, as I heard a lot of good things. A biography of astronaut Neil Armstrong, it was heralded as being one of the most accurate depictions of spaceflight since Apollo 13. Christopher Robin, Disney's live-action Winnie the Pooh, was cute, but we've seen talking stuffed animals before. Really, though, Avengers: Infinity War wound up being such a pop culture juggernaut this year that it deserves to walk away with something, and this one makes the most sense.
My Thoughts: Personally, I think this on is going to come down to Mary Poppins and A Star is Born. I mean, people have been raving about A Star is Born since it came out back in the fall, so no doubt it'll be picking up a few trophies. But, Mary Poppins has been winning over the critics, so no doubt that'll sway some Academy voters. But A Star is Born has been the favourite for too long.
My Thoughts: Wow! First year in a long time I've seen more than 50% of the nominated films. Saw Incredibles 2, loved it. Saw Ralph Breaks the Internet, loved it. Saw Spider-Man, loved it. I skipped Isle of Dogs. I saw the trailers and thought, "Wow, Wes Anderson has finally gotten too quirky for me," and gave it a pass. But still, the Academy does love Anderson. And Mirai, our token foreign film. The first anime in this category that's not from Studio Ghibli. With a lot of good films on this list, I think Spider-Man surprised a lot of people, and since it came out in December, it's still the freshest in a lot of minds
My Thoughts: Firstly, yay! Black Panther is the first superhero film to get nominated for Best Picture. And the whole point to expanding the nominations to more than five years would be so more mainstream films like this would get nominated. That being said, let's be honest. As great as Black Panther is, I don't really think it's Best Picture worthy. Green Book was an early favourite, but being an early favourite means it's already getting early backlash. The film -- about an African American pianist in the 1960s on tour in the south and his white driver/bodyguard -- was lauded when it first came out, but has already started getting flak fore being a sanitized look at race relations. A Star is Born was another early favourite, but over on social media, the one I see people constantly raving about right now is Roma. It hit Netflix in December, so lots of folks are raving about it right now.
Well, it's that time of year again. This year's Oscar nominations were announced about a week ago, so it's time to dust off a tradition I've been doing in all 20 years of my online presence. Yes, it's time for....
Now, as I've been explaining for 20 years, I like to do my Oscar picks a little bit differently. Everywhere you go, you're going to see the picks for the big categories like Best Director and Best Actor, so I'm going to focus my picks on the categories that only I care about: Best Original Song, and Best Visual Effects. Plus, those are the two that I have a pretty good track record in selecting the winners. I also love animated films, so when the Best Animated Film Oscar came along in 2002, I started doing that one as well. Let's get to it!
OK, right away, we can strike out Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy. Spaceships whizzing through space, laser guns, blue screen sets, CGI creatures...been there, done that. Same with Kong. Yeah, we've seen the giant monkey before. Now, War for the Planet of the Apes won a lot of praise for Andy Serkis's performance...some even saying he should have picked up a best actor nomination. So, as that never happened, giving Planet of the Apes the Best Visual Effects Oscar might be the next best thing. On the other hand, Blade Runner 2049 had a lot of fans, and was praised for the lengths its effects went to to create the futuristic world of 2049, much like how the original film was praised for it's visual flair.
My pick:
Between nostalgia and lots of critical love, I'm putting my money on Blade Runner 2049.
There's a reason why my winning streak started 20 years ago. It was the height of the Disney Renaissance, and picking the song from the Disney animated film was a sure thing. So purely for nostalgia's sake, I want to go with Remember Me. That being said, The Greatest Showman is an old-school musical, ans as we saw with La La Land last year, there's a bit of a resurgence of old-school musicals these days. So I think this category is going to come down to Remember Me and This Is Me.
Well, Pixar is the studio with the most wins in this category, so my gut has to go with Coco. That being said, The Breadwinner's director Nora Twomey has been circling this category for a while, having directed the 2009 nominee The Secret of Kells and having worked on the 2014 nominee Song of the Sea. However, they have made some changes to the category this year. In all the Oscar categories, only people who work in that category could vote for the winner. For example, only directors would vote for Best Director, actors for Best Actor, and animators for Best Animated Film. Starting this year, Best Animated Film works like Best Picture...everyone gets to vote for it. The logic is the same reason why Best Picture was opened up to 9 nominees a few years ago: it'll open up the category to more mainstream films, and less art house films that no one has heard of. And no offense to Ms Twomey, but how many of you had heard of The Breadwinner before this?
My pick:
Coco
And, as always, as a concession to the mainstream, the biggest of the mainstream categories....
We're coming up on 10 years now of more than five nominees, and I still don't agree with it. "It'll open up the category to more mainstream films, and less art house films that no one has heard of!" said the Academy. But what's happened? it seems like more art house films that no one has heard of are getting nominated. That being said, Get Out is exactly the kind of mainstream hit that the critics loved that they wanted to see get nominated. At the other end of the spectrum, Three Billboards is already being likened by many to this year's Crash, as a movie that's getting wildly overblown. But still, the giddy thrill for me is seeing The Shape of Water get nominated. The most nominees this year, with 13. Who would have thought that a love story between a mute woman and a sea monster from the director of Hellboy would get so much love! But then, Guillermo del Toro did also do Pan's Labyrinth, which got a lot of Oscar love 10 years ago.
My pick:
I really want The Shape of Water to win. And I really want to see it now, too.
One last rant. Guillermo del Toto was in talks with Universal Studios to come on board with their Dark Universe...their cinematic universe based on their classic monsters, that looks like it began and ended with Tom Cruise's The Mummy. Del Toro's pet project was a remake of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and del Toro allegedly put a lot of his Black Lagoon ideas into The Shape of Water. So just think. In a parallel universe, The Shape of Water wound up being the Creature from the Black Lagoon reboot that kicked off Dark Universe!
Well, I've been mostly separated from my computer as I've been off on vacation over the past week. Well, not completely separated...I maxed out my data plan on Friday night, thus not allowing me to share all the cool stuff that was popping up online over the weekend. So rather than flood my Twitter feed with a bunch of day-old news, I figured I'd just make a big list of everything here at the blog!
Of course, most of the news was coming out of D23, the official Disney convention that Disney puts on, as they went over their upcoming slates. Things kicked off on Friday night with the most anticipated trailer of the evening that wasn't Star Wars or Marvel...the first trailer for A Wrinkle in Time.
Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay brings the legendary YA sci-fi novel to the big screen, with an all-star cast. Young Meg Murray's father unlocks the secrets of the tesseract (not the Marvel McGuffin) to traverse time and space, but gets captured by something evil along the way. Now, Meg must go on a quest to save her father, and is guided along the way by three celestial beings: Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kailing).
I'm not too familiar with the book...all I really know was a friend in college cited it as one of her favourites growing up, and the last time they attempted an adaptation was a really crappy TV movie in 2003. But this trailer has me intrigued. It comes out March 9, so lots of time to check out the book at my local library.
Also on the live-action side that caught my eye was Disney has officially begun production on their live-action remake of Dumbo, from director Tim Burton. How are they bringing it to live action? More humans, of course! Humans barely figured into the original, but now we've got Colin Farrell as Dumbo's trainer, Danny DeVito as the circus owner, and Michael Keaton and Eva Green as the ones who teach Dumbo how to fly.
I was about to give this a pass until I saw Keaton in the cast. Tim Burton and Michael Keaton, together again since Batman Returns in 1992. If they bring the wacky like they did in Beetlejuice, this just might be worth a watch. Disney's aiming this one for a Spring 2019 release.
Over on the animated side, not much new. Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4, and Frozen 2 are all on track. One of the show-stoppers was the first footage from Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2. The plot: when Sugar Crush, Vanellope's game, starts crashing, threatening Vanellope and all the denizens of Sugar Crush, it's up to Ralph and Vanellope to venture onto the Internet to get the parts to fix the game (i.e. download a patch).
The sequence shown was a very meta one, where Ralph and Vanellope stumble upon the Disney website and we get cameos by every Disney princess ever. And yes, every Disney princess has their original voice actress, because that's how Disney rolls. Wreck-It Ralph 2 comes November 2018.
Meanwhile, over at my beloved Pixar, they gave updates on Coco (this November), Incredibles 2 (next summer) and Toy Story 4 (Summer 2019). And then...what comes next.
What comes next is a very personal story from Monsters University director Dan Scanlon. Scanlon opened his presentation by explaining that his father died when he was very young, and as such, he never knew his father. He only knows his father's voice thanks to a cassette tape of a family gathering that a relative gave him, in which his father utters just two words: "Hi" and "Bye." From that inspiration, Scanlon came up with this.
Set in a world populated with magical creatures -- fairies, elves, trolls, "anything painted on the side of a van in the 1970s" according to Scanlon -- these creatures actually abandoned magic long ago and embraced technology. Two elf children who lost their father when they were very young decide to gather up what magic remains in the world to see if they can use it to spend one last day with their father. Sounds like it could be an emotional gut punch. No release date as of yet.
Meanwhile, over on the Star Wars side, we got a new behind-the-scenes glimpse for The Last Jedi.
Nothing really to add...still looking awesome. Still can't wait. The other big news was the Star Wars Land now under construction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World has an official name: Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
And on the Marvel side, they showed the first footage from Avengers: Infinity War, and apparently, it's amaze-balls. Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet to literally pull down the heavens upon our heroes. Nothing official has shown up online yet....just wait until after this weekend and the San Diego Comic Con.
And that's everything that caught my eye from D23.
Over in non-Disney news, we have the Thirteenth Doctor on Doctor Who!
Jodie Whittaker is playing #13, and we have our first female Doctor.
I won't get into all the hate going on right now about how women can't be Doctors. Let's be honest, they've been toying with doing this since the show's heyday in the 1980s, and with the phenomenal response to Missy (the Doctor's arch-enemy the Master, regenerated into a woman, in case you haven't been watching lately), you knew this was happening.
If anything, the comments I'm reading online are saying that a lot of people wandered away from the show during the Peter Capaldi era, and that this is the creative shot-in-the-arm to bring them back to the franchise.
And don't forget, we're getting a whole new creative team behind the scenes when #13 takes the stage next year. I think there are very interesting times ahead, and it's going to be good.
We'll get our first look at #13 in action in the Christmas special, airing on Christmas!
So where was I the past week that I've got to play catch-up like this? I was on vacation!
I started things off by watching Spider-Man Homecoming. Loved it! The core theme was definitely people in suits, and whether it's the suit that makes the hero or not. We've got Iron Man, who's Spider-Man's idol, and he's constantly trying to impress. I loved that they turned the Vulture into a kind of "dark Tony Stark," and rather than just a pair of wings, his costume is his own Iron Man-esque suit that he's made from scavenged parts...a very literal reworking of his name and gimmick. And in the centre of it all is Peter Parker, with a hi-tech Spider-Man suit that he's been given, trying to find his place as a hero.
Tom Holland is great. He brings the youthful exuberance that a high school aged Spider-Man needs. And it's just nice to see Spider-Man in the Marvel universe where he belongs.
I'll write an official review on the main site in the days ahead. But...3.5 Nibs.
And then I was off to the family reunion, down south, just outside of Red Deer. It was a lot of fun, and good seeing so many family members again.
The drive home was nice. Normally, to get from the Red Deer area to Westlock, I just head straight north on Highway 2, using the Anthony Henday Drive to circle around Edmonton. Normally, I go around the west side. But, now that the Henday is complete, I decided to mix things up and go around the east side.
The east side of Edmonton is where Edmonton's oil refineries are, and it was quite the site. Storm clouds were rolling through, so things were dark. I don't know if it was smoke from the fires in BC, or just the exhaust from the refineries, but there was this orange haze in the air. And it was dark enough that all the refineries were lit up. I find a strange beauty in industrial sites at night...just these metal frames, all aglow with their safety lights. And all enshrouded in an orange haze...it was like being on Cybertron.
I was tempted to pull over and take a picture, but probably not a good idea on a busy freeway like the Henday.
Anyway, I'm about rambled out and I'm getting tired of writing. Time to head back to work!
Just some random thoughts I had as I was drifting off to sleep last night, and they're a little too long to tweet.
Firstly, I can't believe how excited I'm getting for Spider-Man Homecoming. The film's composer, Michael Giacchino, posted this to his Twitter feed a few weeks ago. I've listened to it hundreds of times, and it always makes me smile.
Have you ever heard the classic Spider-Man theme sound so grand and epic?
Some 20 years ago, when I first discovered the Internet on a late night in Augustana's computer lab, the first thing I typed into a search engine was "Spider-Man Movie," and I just started reading every bit of news I could. For those who don't know the history, back in the 1990s, the movie rights to Spider-Man were stuck in a legal quagmire. It looked like a film that would never be made. But finally, in the year 2000, the complainants were whittled down to just Sony and Marvel, who settled out-of-court, thus paving the way for Spider-Man to hit theatres in 2002.
So, yeah. I'll never not get excited for a Spider-Man film, because I'll never forget those days where it seemed like a legal impossibility.
That being said, it always easy to look back with disappointment. With my excitement building, I popped The Amazing Spider-Maninto my Blu-Ray player last night and watched a bit of it. After five minutes, my frustration started boiling to the surface again. The Amazing Spider-Man films represent everything that's wrong with Hollywood's "gotta build a franchise" mentality. Those films are just so overstuffed. The entire attitude is, "Let's throw everything at the wall and see what pays off later."
When The Amazing Spider-Man was first announced, reaction was, "We'll be fine with it, as long as you don't rehash the origin story." And what did they do? They rehashed the origin story. If they skipped the origin story...if they cut out that "mystery of Peter Parker's parents" BS...if they cut all that out and just focused on a proper "Spider-Man vs. the Lizard" story, it probably would have been a much more decent Spider-Man movie.
Same with its sequel. For some reason, they decided to resurrect "the mystery of Peter Parker's parents" and tried again to make that work. They awkwardly shoehorned in the Green Goblin just so they could work in the death of Gwen Stacey. If they cut all that out and just focused on a proper "Spider-Man vs. Electro" story, it would have been a much more decent Spider-Man movie.
For what seemed like an impossibility for so long, we really are lucky to have so much to complain about.
The Mummyhits theatres this Friday, and with it, we get the launch of Universal's "Dark Universe," their attempt to create a new cinematic universe out of their classic monsters. I'm on the fence about going to see The Mummy, as the Universal Monsters are a franchise I've always been indifferent towards. Plus, I'm not so sure if I can commit myself to another cinematic universe. I'll probably give it a few weeks, see what the reviews are like, and then check it out.
But, with that cinematic universe, things seem to be progressing nicely. It was announced a few weeks ago that the second film will be a remake of The Bride of Frankenstein, from director Bill Condon, who just gave us Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast. That's slated for Valentine's Day 2019. With that came the announcement that Johnny Depp has joined the Dark Universe as the Invisible Man, and Javier Bardem is on board as Frankenstein's Monster.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one where people are scratching their heads, as the Hunchback has never been portrayed as a monster. But then, as I was drifting off to sleep last night, I had a thought. Igor, Dr. Frankenstein's long-suffering assistant, has long been portrayed as a hunchback. What if they're turning The Hunchback of Notre Dame into Igor's tragic backstory? I mean, the original novel ends with the Hunchback being buried alive next to his beloved Esmeralda. What if Dr. Frankenstein rescued Igor during one of his grave-robbing expeditions to get parts for his Monster, and took him in? I guess we'll know for sure if/when we get to that chapter in the cinematic universe.
And then there's the Phantom of the Opera. I don't know...I've got a little bit of bitterness towards the Phantom. Back when I was a kid, the Broadway musical of The Phantom of the Opera was still new and a very big deal. The Canadian touring show had just launched, and it's only Alberta stop was going to be in Calgary.
Now, back in Entwistle School, the Grade 9 class always gets to go on a massive year-end class trip called the Grade 9 Farewell. When I was in Grade 8, the Grade 9 Farewell was going to be down to Calgary to see The Phantom of the Opera. A few students pulled out, so the teacher in charge, Mr. Twerdoclib, decided to hold an essay contest among the Grade 8 students to fill those empty seats.
I entered. I lost.
Don't get me wrong. I deserved to lose. I wrote the whole thing in the backseat of my family's car coming back from a weekend trip in Red Deer. My bitterness stems from how Mr. Twerdoclib informed me as to how I lost. One day, he pulls me out of my nice, comfy science class, brings me into his Grade 9 English class, puts me at the front of the room, and proceeds to dress me down as to how lame my essay was. It was the kind of public humiliation that my 13-year old self never really got over.
I learned two things from that incident. Firstly, the winning essay was about comparing various branches of the federal government to positions on a baseball team. I thought to myself, "Huh. Teachers really like this 'comparison' thing." So I used that as the formula in every essay I wrote for the rest of my academic career and aced everything.
The second: Mr. Twerdoclib is a dick.
Anyway, I see the latest touring show for The Phantom of the Opera hits Edmonton next month. Maybe I'll go. Get some closure.
Good Friday. The start of the long weekend. Also, the start of a massive snowfall that would not let up until Easter Sunday morning. But, I told my family I'd be coming home for Easter, so I gassed up ol' Bessie Lou (what I call my car) and set out down the road. I knew I had to brave the snowy highways to get to a place with good WiFi, because something special was coming down from Orlando.
This past weekend, Orlando was host to Star Wars Celebration, the official Star Wars con. Good Friday morning was the panel for the latest Star Wars movie, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Rumours abounded that we were going to get our first trailer at that panel. And sure enough, as soon as I left Westlock town limits, the Star Wars app dinged with the notification: the trailer was online.
With steady hands, I made it though the snow and slush until I was back comfortable in Entwistle. I went inside, exchanged pleasantries with my parents, then went into the living room, commandeered the smart TV, brought up the YouTube app and took in...the trailer.
Much like the first Force Awakens trailer, we're not getting much of a sense of the plot yet. We're just getting teases...glimpses of what's next for hour character. Of course, the most anticipated part of this trailer was finally seeing what Luke had to say. His closing line that, "It's time for the Jedi to end," has so many mysteries behind it. Is he like Baron Mordo at the end of Doctor Strange now? Has come to the realization that the only way to bring balance to the Force is by eliminating all Force users? Or, as a friend of mine pointed out, is he just being dramatic because he's in some kind of funk and it takes Rey to pull him out of it?
Of course, in this day and age, and especially with a franchise like Star Wars, each new information must be picked apart with a fine-toothed comb. I picked up on all the hushed dialogue in the sound mix, and used the production studio in some down time at work today to have a closer listen to it. When Rey mentions "the Light," and we see the back of Leia, we hear Leia's iconic, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi...." When she mentions "the Dark," and we see Kylo Ren's crushed helmet, we hear Obi-Wan's, "He was seduced by the Dark Side...." And when she mentions "the Balance," and we see that book, we hear Yoda's, "Surrounds us...binds us...." What does it all mean? Is Rey the child of Obi-Wan? Will we see the spirit of Yoda?
Right now, all we have our images. Until then, it's all speculation.
And speaking of images, holy moly, that teaser poster.
Seriously, I'm more excited for this poster than I am for the teaser. Add my voice to the lamentations that movies posters are no longer works of art, but just crowded Photoshop collages of the film's stars. But this poster, my friends, is a work of art. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie poster and thought, "I want that hanging on my wall." And I want that hanging on my wall.
Sadly, though, we didn't quite get all the announcements we wanted out of Star Wars Celebration. As this is year is the 40th anniversary of the franchise, we were hoping there'd be an announcement about the original theatrical versions coming to Blu-Ray, but there was no announcement. It was hoped that they'd reveal what the third Star Wars story is going to be, or the title of the young Han Solo movie, but no announcements on those fronts. And it's the young Han Solo movie that's led me to another rambling I want to make tonight.
So a few weeks ago, the CEO of Disney was talking about the Han Solo movie, and said one of the things we'll see is "how Han Solo got his name." Of course, the Internet went abuzz. "You mean...Han Solo isn't his name? How can that be? Why does it have to be a name he adopts?" everyone asked. I don't know. But I found it intriguing.
When I was home, I went digging through the boxes of stuff I have yet to remove from my parents' house, and I brought home this:
My very first Star Wars merch. Scholastic's storybook adaptation of Return of the Jedi. I got this at the Grade 1 book fair.
As I was leafing through it, I came upon this passage. It actually describes one of Return of the Jedi's deleted scenes. If you have the big 9-disc Blu-Ray set, it's among the bonus features. After our heroes rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt, they go to their ships in a blinding sandstorm. Before Han gets on the Millennium Falcon, he and Luke have a brief conversation. Han gets all, "Thank you...for saving my life," but he's a little more emotional than the cavalier Han Solo we know and love. This passage is Luke's internal reaction to that.
"Luke felt the change in Han, and he knew the he and everything the others had risked had been worth it. 'Solo' means 'alone,' he thought. He had often wondered if that was Han's real name. Maybe it was an alias Han had chosen -- one that Han felt described him better than his real name. But now Han knew he didn't have to be a loner anymore."
So. Is "Han Solo" not being Han's real name something that George Lucas had been toying with from the very beginning? Is this one of the first seeds we saw planted of that, way back in 1983? Or is it just the author, literalizing the symbolism of Han's name for younger readers?
Sadly, now I know it's probably the last one, because as I was about to hit publish, I spotted this interview with Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy in which she says that Han Solo has always been his name, and the Disney CEO misspoke when he said that. But still, I though the coincidence was neat and felt like sharing it.
Ya know, i don't think I ever read that storybook from beginning to end. I just read passages here and there, and leafed through it a lot, taking in all the pictures. I should finally read it.
Hey! The Oscars are tonight, and as I lay on the couch fighting off one hell of a flu, I realized I haven't done my annual tradition of blogging my Oscar Picks! Of course, I've been doing this ever since I launched by website way back in 1997, so the tradition must continue!
Continuing the tradition I began on my college radio show back in the day, my Oscar Picks are a little bit different. I only do my picks in the categories that I have a good track record in predicting: Best Visual Effects, Best Original Song, and Best Animated Film. So let's get to it, shall we?
My Thoughts: Wow! So many good choices this year. We had The Martian re-creating Mars, The Revenant with all manner of computer animated animals, and Ex Machina with hot androids. But there is no question who's going to take it this year. If there's one thing that people marveled at in Mad Max: Fury Road, it was a return to practical effects work, and big beautiful stuntwork, with the addition of CGI to enhance. If Mad Max gets at least one win, it has to be here.
My Thoughts: For the first time in a long time, this category is full of a bunch of nominees I've never heard of! Anomalisa is a stop-motion animated drama from the guy who did Being John Malkovich about a self-help author who has an affair in a hotel one weekend...Boy & the World doesn`t have much of a plot description on Wikipedia, but it`s Brazilian. I'm mildly surprised that Shaun the Sheep Movie got a nomination, but I shouldn't be, as Aardman Animation is an Oscar favourite, as is Japan's Studio Ghibli, which is why their final film When Marnie Was There no doubt got nominated. And, perpetual Oscar favourite Pixar is represented with Inside Out. Inside Out was a real comeback film for Pixar after slumping for most of this decade, so I think the Oscars are going to reward the comeback.
My Thoughts: Crap, this is a tough one. Whatever happened to the good ol' days when it was just the one from the Disney animated film? I know it's not going to be Writing's on the Wall, as everyone pretty much agrees it's one of the weakest James Bond themes. Your guess is as good as mine.
My Pick: Umm...Fifty Shades of Grey, cuz wouldn't it be hilarious if we could call that film an Oscar winner?
My Thoughts: Wow! I've seen two of the nominees! That's a personal record! It's Mad Max and The Revenant, in case you're wondering. This is one of the most diverse selections in a long time, as even the professional pundits are having trouble selecting a winner. I know they opened it up to more than 5 nominees so that way more mainstream films would get recognized, so it'd be nice if it went to one of the more mainstream ones. I dunno...my gut says The Martian.
Well, still haven't finished tuning up the website since my server crash a couple of months ago, so that means ramblings that usually go in the podcast go where they used to go...this blog! I really should get on that, thought. Holiday blockbuster season is right around the corner, so I'm gonna wanna start posting movie reviews again. And let's not forget a little film called Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You know I'll be getting a few podcasts out of that. Anyway, until then, let's blog!
First up, let's talk about Legendary Pictures and their upcoming daikaiju cinematic universe. Legendary Pictures made last year's American Godzilla reboot, which I thought was pretty good. Last year, they also announced that they were working on Kong: Skull Island, a King Kong prequel/reboot all about King Kong and the island from whence he came. Didn't take much for people to go, "Dude...does this mean they're gonna do King Kong vs Godzilla?" Well, no, because while Legendary was making the films, King Kong is still owned by Universal and Warner Brothers has the American rights to Godzilla.
Well, that is, until Legendary dotted the necessary i's and crossed the necessary t's and made things all copacetic with the various movie studios. And this past week, they announced their grand cinematic universe plans:
March 10, 2017 - Kong: Skull Island
June 8, 2018 - Godzilla 2
2020 - Godzilla vs Kong
The connecting thread in all these films is going to be Monarch, the shadowy organization we saw in Godzilla that's been monitoring giant monsters. They're actually going to be building quite the cinematic universe for this. It's already been announced that for Godzilla 2, they secured the rights to such famous Godzilla rogues as Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah.
And I am thrilled. I really enjoyed last year's Godzilla reboot, and if they can keep that momentum going, this is going to be good.
So, your Facebook feed has probably been lighting up with the news that Toy Story 4 is happening or that a massive Star Wars Land will be coming to Disneyland. All this news is breaking because D23 -- the official DisneyCon -- happened this weekend, and as such, Disney made all kinds of announcements about what they've got coming up. Rather than share each and every story on my Facebook page, or tweet my thoughts on it, I thought I'd just sit down and ramble on the ol' blog.
Hey! I just realized that the Oscars are less than a week away, and I haven't blogged my usual list of Oscar picks yet!
This is a proud tradition, going back to the early days of my website, and my college radio show. See, I do my Oscar picks a little bit differently than anyone else. Every other Oscar preview show you watch, they'll be telling you about the Best Picture predictions, and the Best Actor & Actress predictions, but not me. I'm only going to give you my picks in the categories that I have good track record in predicting the winner: Best Visual Effects, Best Original Song, and Best Animated Film. So, let's get to it!
Well, not really. Sony still technically owns the movie rights to Spider-Man. Sony still has financial and creative control over the character, and will handle all production and marketing and distribution of any Spider-Man solo films.
But, under this new deal that's been signed between Sony and Marvel, Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios and grand czar of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is now in charge of the Spider-Man film franchise, and Spider-Man and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are now free to interact with each other.
So how did we get here? Well, way back before they formed their own movie studio, Marvel did what any other comic book company would do: sell off the movie rights. The movie rights to Spider-Man were sold off ages ago, and after a court battle that lasted for most of the 1990s, the rights were granted to Sony, and thus the Spider-Man film franchise that we know was born.
However, the turning point was this past summer and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Granted, it made $700 million worldwide, but it was the lowest-grossing Spider-Man movie ever. That, coupled with the critical drubbing it got, had fans everywhere screaming, "Give Spider-Man back to Marvel!"
Meanwhile, ever since Marvel formed their own movie studio, they have been trying to re-aquired all their properties. As we learned during the Sony hacks, it turns out Marvel and Sony were having some deep negotiations about Marvel regaining Spider-Man. And some 11th hour shenanigans must have taken place for Marvel to get their way, because rather than the big splashy media events they like to do to announce this stuff, it was mentioned in a news release sent out just before midnight on Monday.
So, with Marvel now running the Spider-Man film franchise for Sony, and Spider-Man now free to interact with the Avengers, Marvel's been shuffling around their release schedule. The first Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man film is coming in July 2017, and the release dates for Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and The Inhumans are all being shuffled around to make room. Spider-Man is also allowed to appear in one Marvel film before his first solo film. It's all but confirmed now that that appearance will be in Captain America: Civil War, because Spidey was a big part of the original comic storyline.
New franchise-runners also means a new Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield, who I thought did a stellar job despite mediocre stories, is being show the door. Apparently, Marvel wants a younger Spider-Man, more like the teenager that Spidey is always known to be. (Garfield just turned 31 in real life.) Marvel apparently wants an actual teenager to play the teenaged Spider-Man.
And Sony has also announced that, despite these developments, their still soldiering on with their Sinister Six, Venom and TBD Female Character spinoffs. Of course, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 has been canceled in favour of the Marvel reboot.
And out of all this, all I can think is, "Is it too late to film a new post-credit stinger for Avengers: Age of Ultron, one featuring Spider-Man?" I was always more of a DC guy when I was a kid, but the only Avengers comic I had was one where Spidey tried to join the Avengers. Alarms were going off in Avengers Mansion, the Avengers assembled to track down the intruder, and they eventually found Spider-Man, who had made a web hammock beneath the QuinJet's wing, where he just casually said, "C'mon, guys, let me join."
I SO WANT THAT TO BE MY POST-CREDITS STINGER IN AGE OF ULTRON!!!
Meanwhile, over on the DC side of the street, we just had the epic 2-part episode of Gotham showing us the secret origin of the Scarecrow.
Yes, everyone I went to college with, I know the Scarecrow was on Gotham. For those just joining us, Scarecrow has always been my favourite Batman villain. So much so, that back in my college radio days, Scarecrow was my on-air name.
I'm enjoying Gotham for the most part right now. I'm just a little afraid they'll fall into the Smallville trap. On Smallville, it was always fun to see these hints and secret origins of various Superman characters, but by season 6, you're screaming at the TV in frustration. "GET ON WITH IT!"
So for Scarecrow's secret origin, we met the Scarecrow's father, Dr. Gerald Crane, and the Scarecrow proper, Johnathon Crane, is just a teenager. The elder Dr. Crane lost his wife in a house fire, and he blames himself for her death because he was too afraid to go back in and save her. Thus leading to his obsession with phobias and fears. Dr. Crane has been torturing people by literally scaring them to death, in an attempt to find a cure for fear. And of course, he experiments on his son. The final scene is the future Scarecrow, having received an overdose of his father's cure, cowering in fear as he hallucinates being harassed by terrifying scarecrows.
It was OK. I'm not sure I like this idea of the Scarecrow being a legacy villain, taking the mantle from his father. But you can see some motivations. Maybe now the Scarecrow becomes obsessed with fears and phobias because he's trying to cure his condition.
What can I say? I always kind of hoped they'd do young Scarecrow much like how they're doing young Riddler. Have Prof. Johnathon Crane be this brilliant, yet slightly off, professor of psychology over at Gotham University who's called in as a profiler on a couple of cases. And, since it's been established that Harley Quinn studied psychology at Gotham University, I always had this idea that maybe Harley Quinn studied under Prof. Crane. So you can introduce young Harley Quinn by having Harlene Quinzel be one of Prof. Crane's grad students.
In other news, I'm on vacation again this week, burning off more vacation time. Decided to head into the city, because I always enjoy how wonderfully uncrowded West Edmonton Mall is on a weekday morning. Swung by HMV, and I stunned myself. I finally bought Brazil on Blu-Ray.
Brazil. Terry Gilliam's legendary dystopian tale. Rather than anything malicious on the part of the state to crush your will and bring you under control, it's the relentless bureaucracy. I have actually never seen it. I've been wanting to see if for ages. Way, way back in high school English, when we were studying 1984, it was a film that my teacher would reference and name-check a lot. I knew a girl in college who cited it as her favourite movie. With that pedigree, I knew I must see it some day. And besides, it's a Criterion edition. The Brazil Criterion has long been held up as one of THE Criterion editions, and the reason why Criterion does what they do.
Since I got my first DVD player in 2001, I've been eying the Criterion of Brazil, but I always stopped myself because Criterion editions get pricey. But, that day, I looked at the $39.99 price tag, and said, "Screw it. Let's get it." And then I got to the till, and when the clerk rang it up, it came up at $32.99. Clerk said, "Huh. The computer says it's $7 cheaper. I won't tell if you won't." And I got it for the lower price.
With a new Blu-Ray in hand, it was then upstairs to see Jupiter Ascending.
Yay! The Wachowskis are back with a new sci-fi epic! Always curious to sew what else the creators of The Matrix are creating. And I know I'm a minority here, but I love, love, LOVE Speed Racer. So what did they concoct for us this time?
Jupiter Jones. The daughter of Russian immigrants. Makes her living as a cleaning lady, scrubbing the toilets of Chicago's elite. Inspired by stories of her astronomer father, who died before she was born, she gazes up at the stars and dreams of something more. "Something more" falls in her lap one day when aliens try to kill her at a medial clinic, and Caine, the half-human/half-wolf bounty hunter rescues her. Turns out Jupiter has the exact same genetic make-up as the recently deceased Queen of the Galaxy, and under the rules of ascension of the galaxy, this makes her next in line for the throne. Of course, this makes her a target for the Queen's children, because her existence is a threat to their claims to the throne.
I got strong John Carter vibe from Jupiter Ascending. They focus a little too much on world-building than plot and character development. And despite being our protagonist, Jupiter isn't very proactive, just kind of going along with the flow of this new world she's been thrust into. And, as such, the plot gets rather repetitive, as Caine is always charging to her rescue, as she gets swept up down the wrong path.
That being said, it is pretty funny in some places. While most of the characters speak in that faux-Shakespearean that's common to sci-fi/fantasy films, Jupiter keeps acting all commoner like and reacts to all these unbelievable situations with the same, "Holy crap." And there's a great scene halfway through showing us the galactic bureaucracy. Who knew that laying a claim to the throne had so much paperwork?
All in all, maybe I'm getting old and have seen too many space operas, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen it all before. 2 out of 4 Nibs. Complete review is over on the website.
And before I wrap this up, just one little side quest.
My new routine when coming home from the city is to take the long way through Spruce Grove, where I'll stop for supper at one of the two new burger chains making inroads into Canada: Carl's Jr or Fatburger. Yesterday, Carl's Jr won the coin toss. What can I say? I'm still enjoying the novelty of how new they are. Same way in the late 1990s when Burger King finally came to Alberta.
Anyway, on my parka, I've got a Doctor Who button. Just the smiling face of the Tenth Doctor. A friend of mine brought it back for me after a vacation in London. I'm sure he paid no more than £1 for it. But that button has become the best icebreaker ever.
Case in point, the clerk at Carl's Jr. She saw the button, let out a shriek of glee, and began extolling the virtues of Doctor Who and how it's like every great science fiction and superhero franchise rolled into one. I was pretty into it, but after about 10 minutes, I started thinking, "I'm really hungry. Can I place my order now, please?"
But still, it's great time to be a geek. Cute girls are reveling in the fandom, and not recoiling in horror, like they did when I was in high school. I just like not feeling alone anymore.
So if you're ever looking to waste some time, one of the most interesting places to do it is at the National Film Board of Canada website. If you've never visited their website, or downloaded their award-winning app, the National Film Board has spent the past few years digitizing literally thousands of their films and making them available streaming online for free. It's great if you ever have fond memories of some of their cartoons, or feel nostalgic for Grade 3 movie day.
When I'm feeling nostalgic, I start looking up some of their Vignettes. Remember these? They seemed to dominate TV throughout the 1980s. These short films, between 1-5 minutes in length, always highlighted a unique aspect of Canadian history or culture, and ran on TV in between the programs. They were very much the forefathers of the beloved Heritage Minutes. Of course, the most famous and most beloved one is the Log Driver's Waltz. But in my last bout of nostalgia, I looked up the one detailing the history of the Bluenose.
The way it's all in black and white, with a doom and gloom narrator, it almost seems like a 1940s newsreel. And I always found the end so sad, seeing the wreckage of the once-mighty ship, just sitting and rotting off the coast of some island.
Now it's really interesting to compare this to the Heritage Minute about the Bluenose, which takes half the time to construct a tale of high seas adventure.
It's an interesting contrast. How do you want to remember the ship...as a wreck rotting on a reef, or as the legendary racing and fishing schooner?
Many many years ago, I blogged that most museums and interpretive centres seem to have a little theatre that shows a short film about the history of whatever it is the museum or interpretive centre is dedicated to. "Why don't they sell that film on DVD in the gift shop?" I mused in my blog.
The last real vacation I took was about five years ago. I went to an old college friend's wedding in Calgary, and took a few days to head out to Banff National Park. One of the sights I saw was the Cave and Basin Hot Spring. Once a bustling swimming pool and health spa, it is now an interpretive centre and historical site, detailing how the discovery of the hot spring, and the formation of a government department to look after and administer it, led to the creation of Canada's national park system. Being an interpretive centre, they have a little theatre that shows a little film about the history of Banff. And, of course, the film wasn't available on DVD in the gift shop.
So imagine my surprise when I searched for "Banff" on the National Film Board's website, and discovered that the Cave and Basin film was an official National Film Board production, and available for multiple repeat viewings on their website. And if I really still want to buy it on DVD, I can do so from the National Film Board's online store.
So here's the little film you'll see if you ever find yourself at the Cave and Basin in Banff: Steam, Schemes, and National Dreams: The Story of Banff National Park.
And now we conclude our broadcast day. Customary to do so with the playing of the national anthem. In their "recently added" section, the National Film Board had a music video for the national anthem that looked quite familiar. And then it dawned on me. When I was kid and just got cable, one of the channels was the PBS station out of Detroit. To acknowledge their Canadian viewers, when PBS concluded their broadcast day, they would run this film for O Canada! I thought it was something those PBS producers whipped up, but no, it's an official National Film Board production.
And as the National Film Board website points out, the recording of O Canada was the one made for the 1976 Olympics. So every time Canada one a medal, this was the recording of O Canada that played.
